Abstract ? Cell and Tissue Engineering Core The Cell and Tissue Engineering Core operates within the Division of Regenerative Medicine. The goal for regenerative medicine is to restore structure and function to diseases/damaged tissues and organs using stem cells alone or in combination with gene therapy, tissue engineering and/or artificial organs. The major research focus for the DRM is to develop and test novel therapeutic interventions and understand basic mechanisms of cellular and humoral immunity using several different nonhuman primate models of disease. To assist researchers focused on Regenerative Medicine research the Division of Regenerative Medicine is home to the Cell and Tissue Engineering Core Laboratory. The mission for the Core is to provide stem cell and tissue engineering products, techniques and scientific expertise to Core and Affiliate Scientists that use the resources of the TNPRC for the performance of regenerative medicine studies the NHP model. Since the last base grant submission in 2011, the efforts of the Core have focused on the generation of effective stem cell isolation protocols, defining the requirements for the expansion and characterization of rhesus macaque MSCs isolated from either the bone marrow, adipose tissue or lung. The Core has also generated a bank of viable rhesus stem cells from animals of bone or adipose tissue from animals of different ages and sexes that are routinely used for research studies. During the next funding period, the core will broaden the services it offers to include tissue engineering focus, while maintaining a focus stem cells. The core will provide services that will collect tissue samples and even generate decellularized tissue scaffolds for research projects, as needed. Currently, the core staff are routinely collecting and processing samples of nipple areolar complex, skin, lung, adipose tissue and bone. The Core has had a large impact not only on the Regenerative Medicine Program, but on other divisions such as Immunology, Microbiology and Comparative Pathology within the TNPRC, and Departments and Centers within the Tulane Health Sciences Center and other research labs nationally.